Non-interest bearing and Sharia compliant finance

It is important that you plan how you will fund your studies before starting your course.

Newcastle is relatively inexpensive compared to other parts of the UK. How much money you might need to have in place and how much you spend will depend on your lifestyle. Further University support and NUSU support is also available to help with the cost of living.

Tuition fees are variable and depend on your course of study.

If you want help in managing your money and planning a budget you can contact the Student Finance Advisers.

Please note, if you are underfunded (i.e. you do not have enough funds in place to cover your living costs and fees) the Advisers will not be able to help you to:

• source alternative sources of funding
• seek a tuition fee waiver or reduction for you

The Student Financial Support Team are not able to endorse or recommend specific providers. However, the charities, trusts and providers listed below may be worth exploring to see if there are any alternative sources of external funding you may be eligible to apply to: 

• Turn2us
• Federation of Student Islamic Societies
• National Zakat Foundation
• Al Rayan Bank
• United Bank UK
• Ansar Finance
• Cosaraf Charitable Foundation

Opportunity scholarship

If you are an undergraduate student you could be eligible to receive the main centrally administered Opportunity Scholarship. This is assessed on your household income. It is supplemented by some other donor funded and subject specific scholarships.

We rely on Student Finance England (or equivalent funding body) to:

• undertake an income assessment
• share your household income with us in order for us to administer the main Opportunity scholarship

Please be assured you do not need to take out any SLC loans to receive our scholarship.  Each year several students will provide their household income information to Student Finance England (or other funding body) for the sole purpose of being assessed for our scholarship scheme.

Discretionary financial support

The University also provides discretionary financial support to assist students once they have registered at the University if they have accessed all other sources of funding available to them but find that they are still struggling.

If your faith deters you from accessing interest bearing finance you would still be eligible to apply for help from the University’s discretionary hardship fund. You would need to be able to evidence that you had tried to obtain alternative sources of non-interest bearing funding before applying.

Due to the discretionary nature of the funding:

• it is not possible to guarantee that an application would be successful
• we cannot assist you in covering the cost of your tuition fees

It is unlikely that this funding would provide funds at the level required to cover your full tuition fees and living costs. 

Some trusts and charities may not consider an application from you if you are entitled to apply for government loans, whether you have taken these out or not.

Banks often require evidence of a student loan before allowing you to open a student bank account with an interest-free overdraft facility.

If you are entitled to claim welfare benefits, the Benefits Agency will usually assume you:

• have taken your loan entitlement
• will reduce your benefit entitlement accordingly

For advice about benefits you can contact the Students’ Union Student Advice Centre.